Closure for receptacles

ABSTRACT

A closure for receptacles such as bottles comprises an annular member of plastic material which is forced down over the neck of the receptacle. The annular member possesses an external thread and a flange at its lower end including a protuberance concealed by the flange. The closure further comprises a cap internally threaded to engage on the annular member and having a cut-out in its lower edge which snaps over the protuberance when the cap is screwed home. A destructible tamper-proof seal in the form of a ring fits below the flange to prevent, until removed, deformation of the flange with displacement of the protuberance and consequent withdrawal of the protuberance from the cut-out, permitting unscrewing of the cap from the annular member.

United States Patent [1 1 Coursaut 1 1 CLOSURE FOR RECEPTACLES [75] Inventor: Henri Coursaut, Mercurey, France [73] Assignee: Le Bouchage Mecanique, France [22] Filed: July 9, 1973 [21] Appl. No.: 377,313

Primary ExaminerGeorge T. Hall [451 July 22,1975

[57] ABSTRACT A closure for receptacles such as bottles comprises an annular member of plastic material which is forced down over the neck of the receptacle. The annular member possesses an external thread and a flange at its lower end including a protuberance concealed by the flange. The closure further comprises a cap internally threaded to engage on the annular member and having a cut-out in its lower edge which snaps over the protuberance when the cap is screwed home. A destructible tamper-proof seal in the form of a ring fits below the flange to prevent. until removed. deformation of the flange with displacement of the protuberance and consequent withdrawal of the protuberance from the cut-out, permitting unscrewing of the cap from the annular member.

4 Claims, 7 Drawing Figures CLOSURE FOR RECEPTACLES The present invention relates to safety closure devices for receptacles such as bottles and tubes, for example those containing dangerous pharmaceutical products, to which it is desired to prevent easy access,

coin or a key of some type, introduced into a slot in the cover, which has previously been brought into coincidence with a groove in the cap. These devices possess the disadvantage of requiring the use of a third component, the coin or the key, and of not being adaptable to the closing of receptacles which do not possess screw threads on which the cap can be engaged.

The present invention provides a closure device for a receptacle such as a bottle or tube, the closure device comprising an annular part adapted to fit on the neck of the receptacle and having an external screw thread for receiving an internally threaded cap, the annular part being provided with a lug which engages in an opening in the cap when the parts have been screwed together so as to prevent further relative rotation therebetween in either direction, and the lugbeing elastically deformable away from such engaging position to allow relative rotation when the lug is so deformed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The invention will now be further described in. terms of a number of presently preferred-exemplary embodi' ments and by reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a side view, with a portion cut away, of the annular part ofa closure device according to the invention, shown in place on the neck of a receptacle;

FIG. 2 is a plan sectional view on the line A A of FIG. 1; i

FIG. 3 is a side elevation, half in section, of the cap part of a closure device according to the invention, mating with the annular part of FIGS. 1 and 2;

FIG. 4 is a partial view in vertical axial section showing the two parts of the closure device of FIGS. 1 to 3 locked together;

FIG. 5 is a side elevational view, partly cut away, of the closure device of FIGS. 1 to 3 on a receptacle;

FIG. 6 is a view similar to that of FIG. 5 showing the device of FIGS. 1 to 5 with an inviolability band or tamper-proof seal; and

FIG. 7 is a partial view in sectional elevation of another form of one part of the closure device of the invention in position on a receptacle.

Referring to FIG. 1, the neck of the receptacle 24 to be closed has a smooth cylindrical portion 3 ending at the top in an upper, outwardly extending ridge or ring 1 and ending at the bottom in a lower outwardly extending ring 2. The closure device of the invention includes an annular part generally indicated at 4, of relatively flexible material, engaged on the neck 3 of receptacle 24. The annular part 4 includes a cylindrical portion 5 furnished with an external male thread 6 and on the lower end a collar including a circular, external, radial extension or flange 7 bounded externally by a cylindrical, vertical ascending wall 8. The lower end of the cylindrical portion, the extension 7 and the vertical wall 8 define an arcuate channel -9 (FIG. 2) which opens upwards. Instead of extending over a full circle,

this channel is locally circumferentially partially obstructed by a lug or protuberance 10 integral both with the extension 7 and the wall 8. A hole or cut-out 11 extends through the wall of the ring 4, i.e., through cylindrical portion, in theregion of the lug, opens into the channel 9 on both sides of lug 10, and penetrates slightly into the extension 7'. Lug 10 accordingly has no connection to cylindrical'portion 5 of member 4 except through the flange or extension 7. The external diameter of the smooth portion 3 of the neck of the receptacle 24 (FIG. 1) is less than the external diameters of rings 1 and 2. The internal diameter of the cylindrical portion 5 of the first closure member 4 is equal, within a slight clearance value, to the outside diameter of the smooth portion 3 of the neck of the receptacle. To place the member 4 on the smooth portion 3, it is thus necessary to force member 4 down over the upper ring 1. This operation is possible due to the elasticity of member 4. If necessary, the lower internal orifice of the cylindrical part 5 is cut away or chamfe red. The horizontal circumferential length of the cut-out 11,-particularly in the part thereof extending into flange 7 and into lug 10, is greater than the corresponding length of the lug 10 itself. This arrangement has the objective of facilitating the elastic displacement of the lug 10 downwards. The height of the cut-out 11 is approximately the same as that of the lug 10. Since the height of the lug is less than the height of the wall 8, the former is concealed by the latter. The total height of the member 4 is less than the height of the smooth portion 3 of the receptacle, so that a free vertical space separates the flange 7 from the ring 2 and thus permits the downwards bending of the lug 10.

The internal wall of the lug 10 (FIG. 2) is bounded radially by the penetration of the cut-out 11 in the flange 7; said penetration is small in comparison with the radial width of the flange.

I the closure device and is relatively rigid. It comprises a top 13 and a contiguous skirt 14 which is furnished with an internal female screw thread 15 A sealing part 16 may project from top within the skirt to engage the inner surface of the bottle neck 3. The lower edge 17 of the skirt is formed with a rectangular void or opening 18, of such circumferential extent around the skirt as substantially to correspond to that of the 111g 10 of 1 member 4. The height of opening 18 is approximately equal to the height ofthis lug. The opening 18 isthus capable of receiving the lug without appreciable play.

As the cap 12 is screwed down onto the member 4 (FIG. 4) the lower edge 17 of the skirt 14 will ultimately bring up against the lug 10. Due firstly to the general flexibility of the member 4 and secondly to the capability for deflection of the lug 10, this latter will be pushed downwards by the edge 17 so long as the opening 18 is not located exactly above it. But when the opening 18 reaches the circumferential position at which its length coincides with that of lug 10, the latter springs back and resumes, due to its elasticity, its initial position and penetrates into opening 18. This has the effect of locking the cap 12 and the member 4 together. The cap cannot be unscrewed from the annular member 4, and rotation of the cap will simply rotate the annular member-with it on the receptacle 24, leaving the receptacle closed. v

FIG. 5 shows the locked closure device in place on a receptacle. The external diameter of the skirt 14 of the cap is slightly less than the internal diameter of the wall'8 so that the skirt penetrates into the channel 9 and conceals the lug. in order to uncap the receptacle it is necessary to recognize the position of the lug l0,

and to exert a downwards vertical pressure by means of a finger of one hand on top of the wall Sin-the region of the lug until the lug is below the cut-out 18. It then becomes possible to rotate the cap 12 and thereby to unscrew it. Capping is carried out by holding the part 4 with one hand, at the wall 8 thereof, and by screwing on the cap, the; skirt 14 of which is held by the other hand, until locking occurs.

In order to insure to the purchaser, for example, that the receptacle has not been opened before he buys it, the closure may include as proof of integrity a destructible sealing ring 19 which fills or partly fills the space between the flange 7 and the collar 2 on the receptacle. The ring 19 may be provided with a tear-tab 19a. Until ring 19 is removed, the lug cannot be forced downwardly, and the receptacle cannot be opened.

When the tamper-proof seal 19 is not provided, the ring 2 may be dispensed with. As to the ring 1, when the closure device is closed, the ring 1 is gripped between the annular member 4 and the cap 12, thus insuring both affixationv of the closure device to the receptacle and the sealing of the closure.

By giving to the ring 1 on the bottle an outside diameter only very slightly greater than the inside diameter of the annular member 4, or by providing sufficient play between the members4 and 12 at their threads, or by giving to the cap 12 a sufficient flexibility, or by any combination of these measures, it is possible to obtain a closure device which can, e.g. in the original filling of the receptacle, be applied in one stroke, the members 4 and 12 already threadedly engaged into each other being simply forced down onto the neck of the bottle.

FIG. 7 illustrates a modified form of the closure device of the invention in which the annular member 4a includes at the top an inwardlysloping frusto-conical portion 22 which fits into a corresponding cavity 21 in the neck 3 of the receptacle. The interior of the cylindrical portion 5a is slightly larger than the exterior of the corresponding part 3 of the receptacle, so that the positioning of the annular member 4a on the receptacle elastically deforms only the conical frustrum 22 and not the body 50 or the threads 6 thereof, as in the preceding embodiment. The cap which covers the member 4a can therefore if desired have increased stiffness without detriment to the behavior of the device as a single component with respect to the capping operation proper.

It will be noted that the tamper-proof sealing ring 19 can be used in both the versions described above. In addition, this ring can be manufactured as a part of the annular member of the closure, it being joined to that member by a circular line of weakness 23 (FIG. 7).

While the invention has been described hereinabove in terms of a number of presently preferred embodiments, the invention is not limited thereto, but rather comprises all modifications of and departures from those embodiments properly falling within the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. Two-part closure means for a receptacle, said closure means comprising an annular member having a substantially cylindrical portion with a thread in the external surface thereof and a flange extending radially from one end thereof, said flange having formed therein a circumferential channel extending over less than a full circle to define over the remainder of the circle an arcuate protuberance, the cylindrical portion being apertured about said protuberance, whereby upon deformation of the flange adjacent the protuberance the protuberance may be displaced axially of the cylindrical portion, said closure means further comprising a cap having an internal thread and having a void formed therein engageable over said protuberance upon engagement of said annular member and cap at their threads.

2. Two-part closure means for a receptacle, said closure means comprising an annular member having a substantially cylindrical portion with upper and lower ends, with an external thread, and with a circular flange extending radially from said lower end, said flange having a channel therein open toward said upper end, said annular member including a lug in said channel of height less than the depth of said channel, said closure means further comprising a cap having an internal thread and having a void formed in the skirt thereof of axial height less-than the depth of said channel, said void being engageable over said lug upon engagement of said screw threads with each other.

3. Closure means according to claim 1 wherein the annular member includes a detachable ring beneath said flange adapted to cooperate with a flange on the neck of the receptacle in preventing such deformation prior to removal of said detachable ring.

4. Closure means according to claim 2 wherein said annular member includes a frusto-conical constriction therein for engagement with a constriction in the neck of the receptacle. 

1. Two-part closure means for a receptacle, said closure means comprising an annular member having a substantially cylindrical portion with a thread in the external surface thereof and a flange extending radially from one end thereof, said flange having formed therein a circumferential channel extending over less than a full circle to define over tHe remainder of the circle an arcuate protuberance, the cylindrical portion being apertured about said protuberance, whereby upon deformation of the flange adjacent the protuberance the protuberance may be displaced axially of the cylindrical portion, said closure means further comprising a cap having an internal thread and having a void formed therein engageable over said protuberance upon engagement of said annular member and cap at their threads.
 2. Two-part closure means for a receptacle, said closure means comprising an annular member having a substantially cylindrical portion with upper and lower ends, with an external thread, and with a circular flange extending radially from said lower end, said flange having a channel therein open toward said upper end, said annular member including a lug in said channel of height less than the depth of said channel, said closure means further comprising a cap having an internal thread and having a void formed in the skirt thereof of axial height less than the depth of said channel, said void being engageable over said lug upon engagement of said screw threads with each other.
 3. Closure means according to claim 1 wherein the annular member includes a detachable ring beneath said flange adapted to cooperate with a flange on the neck of the receptacle in preventing such deformation prior to removal of said detachable ring.
 4. Closure means according to claim 2 wherein said annular member includes a frusto-conical constriction therein for engagement with a constriction in the neck of the receptacle. 